russian operation. new reaction on that. good morning, everyone. thanks for joining us this hour. i'm tamron hall coming to you live from msnbc headquarters in new york. the candidates barn storming one key battle ground state after another. hillary clinton is holding a rally in tampa, florida, just a few hours. while her running mate, tim conta kaine, in north carolina. donald trump holds a town hall in virginia beach and a rally in north korea tonight. his running mate, in springfield, missouri this hour. they battle for the day with their running mates in ohio, yesterday. both campaign planes just yards away from each other on the tarmac. illustrating how important it is to be on the ground. and our new nbc new survey -- weekly tracking poll out this morning shows hillary clinton maintaining the six-point lead over donald trump nationally. that she held last week. in new interviews broadcast this morning, trump and clinton are

sparring over trump's meeting with mexico's president last week when he did not discuss who would pay for that wall. >> it is clear that he went down with a mission. it's been the mission of his whole campaign from the very first day to demonize immigrants to call mexicans rapists and criminals. to do everything he could to stir up all kinds of bad feelings about hard-working people. and he didn't raise it. so he did choke. >> so let me just tell you about choking. i don't choke. she chokes. look at the deals she has made. she has been responsible for so many bad things that have happened to our country. >> as the back and forth between the candidates heats up, the newest nbc news battleground map shows clinton has a significant lead, 272 electoral votes, while trump is at 174, and 92 are in the toss jup column. let's get this in right now. the campaigns covered, our correspondents. let's begin with kristen welker

at the clinton campaign headquarters in brooklyn, new york. let's talk about the spreadsheet here, when we look at, as we said, surrogates out. what seems to be the dominant message coming from the campaign today, kristen? >> reporter: well, there are two messages, tamron. one is that they are essentially trying to argue that donald trump has failed the commander-in-chief test, and secondly, that the clinton/kaine ticket would be stronger. to that point, secretary clinton in florida today, making that very point, will likely echo some of what we heard yesterday when she slammed donald trump in the trip to mexico. one of the key parts of his immigration plan, building the wall. meanwhile, her campaign is out with a tough new ad today, criticizing donald trump and highlighting him for some of the controversial comments he's made about veterans and military families. take a look at that ad. >> she's a war hero because he was captured. i like people who weren't captured, okay? >> donald trump compared his sacrifices to the sacrifices of

two parents who lost their son in war. >> how would you answer that, father? what sacrifice have you made for your country? >> i think i've made a lot of great sacrifices, built great sacrifices, had tremendous success. >> those are sacrifices? >> reporter: senator tim kaine touting his foreign policy credit essentials. and tamron, this comes as democrats are preparing for an all hands on deck strategy. clinton's top surrogates out in force in the coming days, including elizabeth warren, the first lady, president obama and chelsea clinton. they're going to be targeting areas where voter registration deadlines are coming up. democrats' biggest concern right now is complacency. that the obama coalition isn't going to turn out. so they want to make sure those millennials are signed up to vote and that they're energized to turn out on election day. >> kristen, obviously a lot of people in holiday mode over the weekend. and this fbi report, the timing of its release on the friday,

again on a slow news cycle holiday. hillary clinton did give access to the president yesterday on this new plane of hers. what are they saying about the timing and some of the raised eyebrows regarding when this report was released? >> reporter: well, first of all, secretary clinton spoke to her full press corps for the first time in a long time yesterday on that new press plane. so that was significant. and it was to counter some of those very headlines that you just talked about, tamron. in terms of the fbi report on friday, they released their notes from their three-and-a-half hour interview with slikt and one of the headlines was that on three dozen occasions, secretary clinton said she couldn't remember something, including how she was brief on handling classified information. our own andrea mitchell pressed her and she said she did take classified information very seriously. the fact she couldn't remember

all of those briefings, not an indication to the extent to which she does take classified information seriously. she tried to turn the page, by the way, tamron, also by pointing the finger at russia and saying in her strongest terms yet they are trying to influence this election. >> kristen, thank you. and now to the trump campaign. new questions about his immigration plan, after saying this yesterday about legal status for undocumented immigrants. >> i'm not ruling out anything. >> pathway to legal status. >> no. to become a citizen, you're going to have to go out and come back in. through the process. you have to get online. this isn't touchback. >> now donald trump is also facing some new controversy. he is dismissing allegations of pay for play. saying his foundation's donations to florida's attorney general had nothing to do with her office's consideration on an investigation into trump university. trump had to pay $2500 fine to the irs over this questionable

donation. >> i have known pam bondi for years. i have a lot of respect for her. never spoke to her about that at all. >> reporter: nbc's jacob rascon joins us from virginia beach, where trump will be making his first campaign stop. so we know trump has said that it's pay to play with the clintons and the clinton foundation. are we getting a clear answer from his campaign about this bondy situation here? >> reporter: they're saying it's a minor issue to that. of this is how they're describing it. this is a problem, of course, because on the campaign trail for months, donald trump has said that you pay politicians and they do whatever you want them to do. he said, "i was part of that, and now i'm uniquely qualified to break it up." and so it makes you question, of course, this donation. so the facts that we know are, in 2013, the florida attorney general's office was considering

joining an investigation into alleged fraud at trump university. and at about that time, the trump foundation made this donation of $25,000 to the attorney general's office which never ended up opening or joining an investigation into that alleged fraud. so that never happened. so just recently, though, it was pointed out that that was -- that was not allowed. that shouldn't have happened. the trump campaign paid a fine, and now they said it was a simple misunderstanding. so that's how they describe it. that's about as clear as it gets right now. if i could point out, just where we are. today this is right here -- this i had never seen before. the clinton campaign actually has a presence here in front of this event that's going to be veterans' focus. they have brought out their own veterans that they want to speak to the media. and then here over to the right, this is where you have the trump volunteers and others waiting in line. it's closed to the public, but these are people who got tickets

online for about 1500, somebody told me seats inside this event, focused on the veterans. tamron? >> jacob, interesting sight there. joining me live now, trump campaign senior adviser, aj delgado. we played a little bit of this new campaign ad from hillary clinton, hitting donald trump on some of the things that he has said on tape, regarding veterans, including the now infamous line about john mccain. we just got word that 88 veterans have endorsed collectively hillary clinton. excuse me -- donald trump. 88 veterans have, excuse me, endorsed donald trump. is this part of the strategy going into this commander-in-chief forum on msnbc, that he needs to shore up where he stands with our vets? >> well, i should mention, it's nearly 90 generals/admirals and military advisers that have just endorsed mr. trump. this election is about looking at someone's actions and what are donald trump's actions? somebody who has a very long

record of supporting veterans and elevating the veterans' conversation nationally this year. >> tell me how do you believe he's done that. >> let's compare to what hillary clinton hasn't done. i think a better thing to focus on. because hillary clinton was in the senate, tamron, and did nothing to help the v.a. administration. when there were veterans literally dying from lack of care. and donald trump has over the years, with fund-raising, with simply vocal awareness, even, bringing attention to the plight of veterans. has done a great deal more than hillary clinton has in her many years in public office. almost no record of supporting veterans. >> we'll go back to the question i've asked you. he has expressed vocal support of the veterans. >> and financial. >> and that's improved the lives of veterans. >> and financial. >> how do we know that, because he hasn't released his taxes? >> we have information. >> but you can't verify it, because he hasn't released his taxes. >> he's under audit. you can't release under audit. >> yes, you can. >> they shouldn't.

you should not. >> you said can't. >> as an attorney myself, i would tell him you cannot do that. >> all attorneys have used that same line. it's clear it's a talking point. to be clear, he can. he can release his taxes, right? >> i promise you i'm not feeding a talking point. but as an attorney -- he legally can. >> let me play what he said about taxes in 2014. let's play it what he said. >> if i decide to run for office, i'll produce my tax rerns, ablutely. and i would love to do that. >> oh aj, that was 2014. donald trump under audit even then. he knew that. but he still made that pledge. why not honor it? >> because i think there's absolutely no need, once again, when you're under audit to create a situation that could be detrimental to his finances, to his relationship with the irs. >> could it be detrimental to his argument that he is a businessman, a successful businessman, who can lead this

nation into an economic recovery? >> i don't believe that's -- i don't believe that's what's at issue with the tax returns. why is it that you want them released? i think the bigger -- >> because he's running on his business record. he's also talked about hillary clinton's ties to foreign leaders as secretary of state, tied into the clinton foundation. we don't know where he's invested his money. there was a "new york times" report about ties to chinese banks, potential investments in russia. we would know more about this presidential candidate. why not release that information? >> again, under audit. another year, it would be different. >> what about the years that have not been audited? his entire business record is not under audit. why not release information from taxes that are no longer under audit? >> i think the only relevant ones would be the most recent. and that's the one that is under audit. >> he's running on his business record. >> i would be more concerned, tamron, with seeing the full clinton foundation donors' list. >> what about the information regarding pam bondi here. i just want to put up a time

line, august 24, 2013, the known lawsuit against trump university. the sentinel reported in 2013 in september, that pam bondi's office was reviewing the new york lawsuit to determine whether to join the case. september 17th, 2013, donald trump -- donald j. trump foundation, donated $25,000 to a pro-bondi group in justice for all. right after that, or soon after, she decided not to open an investigation into trump university. >> as did most attorney generals across the country, because there is no case there. so i can see how it would seem odd. >> you recognize, though, that it sounds like a situation of pay for play. >> not at all. because pam bondi asked for that donation before she even knew that some complaints had come into her office. hundreds of complaints. >> who did she ask for the donation? >> donald trump. >> donald trump said he had no contact with her. >> no, they did not speak about the investigation. he has had contact.

they have been friendly for years. they spend a great deal of time in palm beach. >> but you know the candidate is often fueled by conspiracies. he would say that there is no way that hillary clinton had this conversation and that this lawsuit did not come up. remember all of the suspicions regarding the attorney general and bill clinton on the plane? donald trump would not accept that as an answer of -- >> i think he would. because i think any attorney would tell you, there is really no case here. it's not suspicious that pam bondi didn't bring the case. >> so it's not suspicious to you -- $25,000 donation that resulted in an irs fine -- >> only because of the clerical error where it came out of the foundation, versus his own personal account. it's a clerical error. let's move on -- >> but if i may, though -- without moving on, can can we talk about fernando. i see a sudden interest from the media. >> we're going to talk about immigration. >> the foundation's owner. >> his immigration comments. i fully realize that you've come locked and loaded. but what we're going to do --

your candidate -- what your candidate is now saying on the campaign trail, 62 days out. let me play what he said regarding dwraigs immigration, the difference from phoenix on wednesday to this morning. let's play it. >> you cannot obtain legal status. or become a citizen of the united states by illegally entering our country. can't do it. >> i'm not ruling out anything. i'm not going to rule out -- >> pathway to legal status. >> no. to become a citizen, you're going to have to go out and come back in. through the process. you have to get online. this isn't touchback. >> what is it? >> touchback is when you let somebody right back in, requiring someone to leave and go through a process to come back legally is not touchback. >> do you believe what he said on wednesday is what he said on that plane yesterday? >> he's been completely consistent, yes. he has said, we have priorities, we have the law, we have

enforcement. we have to put in e-verify in place and the sanctuary cities. and once we have our arms wrapped around that, and that's been done, then we address what we do. >> he said years later. years later. >> yes, that does take years. >> it takes years. but that is not the message that he gave on wednesday. >> it is. how is it not? >> he said on wednesday, you cannot obtain legal status. yesterday he said, i am not ruling out anything. that's a very different answer. why play the arizona crowd one way and say something different days later on that plane? >> i don't think he is. i think it's a -- it's a -- >> you know it's a different answer. it's right there -- let's play them both again. >> it's clear to say -- i'm not going to rule out something years away. >> let's listen one more time. both of them. >> you cannot obtain legal status. or become a citizen of the united states by illegally entering our country.

can't do it. >> i'm not ruling out anything. >> pathway to legal status. >> no. to become a citizen, you're going to have to go out and come back in. >> but short of -- >> through the process. you have to get online. this isn't touchback. >> you still believe -- >> consistent. i think the more interesting angle is the flip-flopping that hillary clinton has done on immigration, which the media doesn't mention. somebody who said children should not be able to make it over and now has zero deportation in her immigration plan. >> aj, thank you so much for your time. we greatly appreciate it. we want to remind you, both hillary clinton and donald trump will be taking part in the commander in chief forum, hosted by nbc news, along with iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. it will focus exclusively on issues the next president will have to confront. tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. and for the first time since 1964, "the dallas morning news" is not endorsing the republican presidential candidate. the paper just published a

scathing op-ed saying that trump is no republican. this comes as a new "washington post" survey finds the race in a dead heat in texas. coming up, should republicans be worried the state could go blue? >> we've never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process. >> hillary clinton yesterday expressing serious concerns that russia may be tampering with the election to help donald trump. now a new report reveals intelligence officials are also deeply concerned about a possible broad, covert russian operation. coming up, i'll speak with one of the leaders about the russian opposition movement. we'll be right back. across new york state, from long island to buffalo, from rochester to the hudson valley, from albany to utica, creative business incentives, infrastructure investment, university partnerships,

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donald trump still not releasing those tax returns. and you just heard his surrogate say he's not going to do that. and he deflects the responsibility. >> as far as my taxes are concerned, the only who cares is the press, i will tell you. and even the press, it's not a big deal. >> you don't think there are any voters out there -- >> i don't think so. i don't think people care. >> people don't care, the latest line from the campaign. what about hillary clinton? still under fire the clinton foundation connections and handling of classified material. >> i take classification seriously. in fact, i couldn't remember certain meetings, whether or not they had occurred, doesn't in any way affect the commitment that i had, and still have. to the treatment of chas filed material. >> joining me, susan del percent oand a progressive advocacy group. thank you both for joining me. susan, i'll start with you here.

obviously, we could make a list of questions that both of these campaigns have that are still outstanding at this point. the enthusiasm or lack thereof of that could potentially impact this race, where people on both sides stay home. that's a part of this conversation now. >> it's a tremendous part of the conversation. especially when you start looking at swing states. where voter turnout is going to be key. we have seen some tightening in the polls. the most recent, the cnn poll. what's interesting there is that 48% of trump voters are very enthusiastic about -- or enthusiastic about donald trump. on hillary clinton's side, it's only 46%. so the clintons have to wake up this morning saying, "how are we going to motivate our voters." that's why president obama and mrs. obama are traveling this week and next week going to states like virginia, to make sure right before voter registration deadlines happen, they register people and that they focus on early voting. donald trump has to worry about a lot of republicans still not comfortable voting for him on the top of the ticket. and that's also a big concern, actually, for the u.s. senate,

that people won't come out and vote. >> susan, as a republican strategist, we know at this point donald trump doesn't have a deep bench, so to speak. he doesn't have that lineup that gave hillary clinton the boost after the dnc. an incredible lineup of democratic all-stars here. if you were advising the campaign -- i mean, the surrogate that just came on -- wonderful surrogate for donald trump, but still not able to answer the questions about his immigration policy. if you're running that team right now, with all the praise that kellyanne conway got, steve bannon, what would you say to them right now? >> i think they are actually -- if you're waking up today and you're them, this is a pretty good day. the polls are tightening, like i predicted. and right now, a couple states in play we never thought could be in play. and it's not the worst thing, because we're still talking about hillary clinton's e-mails. this -- with approval numbers so high for both candidates in the 60s, it becomes a referendum. so if donald trump is talking about hillary clinton, he's winning. if hillary clinton is talking

about donald trump, she's winning. so these surrogates, no matter what they say, they're just going to deflect. they're not going to talk about their candidates' faults. they're just going to talk about their opposition. >> what do you see as the strategy to get these maybe young voters, obviously african-americans, greatly motivated black women turned out in tremendous numbers in the past for obama. what do you see is the key to changing the fromek tree of these numbers that hillary clinton is seeing? >> you know what i'll say, it's not actually talking about trump exclusively. that's something that has been very clear when you dig deep into the focus groups and people know in their guts they have to have something to vote for. we all know who donald trump is. and communities of color, young people, immigrants, very turned off by his message, what he represents. a billionaire who wants to sort of close up the gates of opportunity for everybody. but what would one vote for? and i think that there is a very strong possibility that we could see that type of pivot. you know, hillary clinton released more policy proposals than probably anybody else in

history. >> you're friend chris hayes had the word count. she had, you know, several thousand more policy words to describe her policy than donald trump had on his website. >> and a lot of them will make a huge difference in the lives, particularly of young people, whether it's debt-free college or adjusting climate change. it will be our generation as young people to pay the cost for this. and there has been very little focus on it. and i understand the temptation to want to talk about donald trump every day. but you've got to have something to vote for. >> that's a great point. but the problem is, with hillary clinton, i think her challenge is that she is not a changed candidate. and when you want emergencies who were coming out in force, people want change right now. and that's what's getting hard for democrats, i think, to get excited about for hillary clinton. >> don't you think that even moderate republicans like yourself -- we're going to talk about it in a second, "dallas morning news" for the first time since 1964, not endorsing the republican nominee. i think we're at a point -- yes, she is not a changed candidate. but as my mother would say,

change is not always good. so, let's be real here. this is what some even moderate republicans are saying. >> which is why they may not come out. and, again, it comes to voter turnout. they don't --y're not for hillary clinton. they don't support donald trump for probably a whole host of reasons. but that doesn't mean they're going to necessarily just because they say they're a republican vote for hillary clinton. or for donald trump. >> senator jeff flake out of arizona, where hillary clinton may very well take that state, who is saying as a republican senator, one of the leaders of his party, that he may write in, if he votes. so this same energy could be felt on both sides. >> right. because i think the difference is, while hillary clinton hasn't inspired change and get someone for something, donald trump hasn't earned the vote of a lot of republicans. and that's what they're looking for, is could he earn their vote. >> in 60 days or less. >> and right now has not earned it -- for hillary clinton, they're not inspired, because she doesn't represent change. >> so heather, at this point does she need to -- i don't know, rely on bernie sanders

more? he was out on the campaign trail over the weekend. what do you see as the ticket to the hearts of the progressives to get them out in a passionate way? >> i think she needs to really engage with the social movement. because those are actually where young people feel very passionate. the movement for climate justice, the movement for black lives. the movement against economic inequality. those movement leaders are actually who are really connecting with young people. and politics right now is a place where young people feel pretty burned. and just on the strategy of that, i think that's a really good point. is that hillary clinton does have a much better field operation in place. so she can change turnout, especially in that age group. great insightful debate. thank you. after meeting with vladimir putin on the sidelines of the g20 summit, president obama issuing a warning to states that engage in hacking attacks. >> we've got more capacity than anybody, both offensively and defensively. but ouroal is not to suddenly in the cyber arena, duplicate a

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many of the bombs that were dropped were never exploded. over the years, thousands of laotians have been killed or injured. today i stand with you in acknowledging the suffering and sacrifices on all sides of that conflict. >> tomorrow president obama will meet with survivors. by the way, this trip marks the first time a sitting u.s. president has been to laos. and the u.s. is investigating russia, citing a potential plan by the kremlin to disrupt the elections here. nbc's richard engel spoke with a former hacker about the uptick in activity before our general election. >> reporter: why are we seeing so much activity from russia now? >> i think this is because russia has discovered the power they have. >> reporter: so russia is doing it because it learned it can. >> yeah. >> joining me now, chess grand master, garry kasparov, opposition social movement in russia, also the author of the book, "winter is coming, why

vladimir putin and enemies of the free world must be stopped." thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> what's your position on what richard engel spoke to, russia is doing it because they can? >> look, vladimir putin has a record, to enter in any affair if he sees it -- it fits his agenda. he has been actively engaged in influencing european politics. he has been using the flood of refugees from syria, from the middle east, to help his buddies in nationalist groups in france, germany. he was funding the brexit efforts. he has clear goals. he needs cows. of he has to create more uncertainty. he is aiming at destroying european union and undermining nato. and the biggest of all, influence the u.s. presidential election, especially at a time when he has a candidate. >> let me play what putin said yesterday.

>> translator: there's no need to discuss the problem. i don't know anything about it. on a state level, russia -- >> you just made a laundry list of allegations of involvement, including, by the way, in germany, as well. >> and he's not hiding it. look what he said. you know, it didn't matter who did it. what is important that -- where we have to look at the substance. so for me, it's equal -- a confession that russian hackers, they were engaged in this illegal activity of hacking, dnc server, and what on earth could stop putin from going after the data, the election data, to make sure that donald trump gets a better chance of winning the elections. >> we have heard donald trump in the past claim to be friends or know vladimir putin. he's later said no, i don't know

him. in fact, he said if i saw a picture of him, i would know him. something very off-the-cuff like that. but there's no proof of a relationship between these two that does not mean that vladimir putin has not somehow saw, as you pointed out, a way to influence this election through trump. >> but even if there is no direct connection, we know that the former chief of his campaign, paul manafort, was working in ukraine for putin's interests. and there are a few key people still in trump's campaign directly connected to putin's lobbying groups. but, you know, we have to listen and putin, of course, has been listening to what trump has been saying about nato, european union, relations with american allies. trump is also an agent. because trump wants to bring america back to build walls, and natural putin wants america to play a much smaller role in the world affairs.

but also trump, you know, looks at everything, you know, as a deal. for trump, i'm sure, crimea annexation is just a hostile takeover of lucrative piece of real estate. this is a dream part of vladimir putin. >> what is your fear? how far do you fear that vladimir putin would be willing to go, if these allegations are true, that they are trying to influence? >> the answer is very simple. he will go as far as he is allowed to. and i hope that obama will stop talking and will start acting. because so far, everything putin saw from obama, he just is kind of talk. but putin has every dictator reaction. and i think it's obama's prime responsibility today to make sure that whatever putin has in mind will never materialize, and american voters will not -- will not be subject to a manipulation by russian hackers. >> gary gas pa remove, thank you. up next, hillary clinton maintains our lead over donald trump in our latest nbc news poll. that's not the case in other national polls. but where do they match up in

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priority number one is keeping those lights on. it takes ingenuity to defeat the monsters that live in the dark. we are back with our daily briefing of politics. and today we're taking a look at where the presidential nominees stand in their race to the white house. our latest nbc news battleground map is on the ready, and joining us to roll out the numbers, nbc news political editor, mark murray. >> let's go into our map right now we end up having and right now as you end up seeing, we have hillary clinton with a 272 electoral vote lead over donald trump at 174. let me point out the changes we ended up making. here in north carolina, this was blue, and hillary clinton's column just last month, we moved it back in the tossup. she leads in a lot of polling there, but not as much as earlier. the other move, nebraska's one congressional district, we also

had in lean democratic column. we moved that to tossup. hillary clinton, all you need is 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. and what is significant here, with democrats having the advantage in places like virginia, for example, you know, also you end up having in colorado, if democrats are up there, they have a big electoral map advantage. let's go into some of the other numbers that are out there. so tamron, we talk about battlegrounds. we have florida as a tossup race. this poll from last month had hillary with a pretty sizeable lead in florida. a lot of other polls have shown it much closer than that. but bottom line, most polls, not all, but most polls in florida have hillary with a slight lead in florida, a big advantage for her. >> very much, mark. we want to remind everyone -- the commander-in-chief forum, both hillary clinton and donald trump will be taking part, it airs tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on on msnbc. next, william barber who

took the crowd by storm last month will join us. as you just heard, north carolina now a tossup. early voting set to begin this week. we'll take a look at north carolina and the race there. ll ♪ my eyelove is finding a different angle. my eyelove is season 1, episode 1. my eyelove is making a story come alive. eyelove is all the things we love to do with our eyes. but it's also having a chat with your eye doctor about dry eyes at interrupt the things you love. because if your eyes feel dry, itchy, gritty, or you have occasional blurry vision, it could be chronic dry eye. go to myeyelove.com and feel the love. ssoon, she'll be binge-studying. now she writes mostly in emoji. soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. today, the only spanish words he knows are burrito and enchilada. soon, he'll take notes en espanol.

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take on any road with intuitive all-wheel drive. the nissan rogue, murano and pathfinder. now get 0% apr for 72 months, plus $500 bonus cash. welcome back. congress is back today after a seven-week summer break. they have just about four weeks before the fiscal year ends to vote on a spending deal to prevent a government shutdown. kelly o'donnell joins me live from capitol hill. and kelly, a lot of business to take care of. we know the cloud that hovers over the nation's head is this general election. and i'm sure it has an impact on all of the discussions there. >> reporter: yes, this is not a campaign neutral zone for sure, tamron. most of the members of the house are running for re-election themselves, a third of the senate. and all of the issues have absolutely played out on the trail, and will again. so congress comes back late today. the senate will begin taking some action on the zika funding.

but as we expect, it will likely not pass. there's a real disagreement between democrats and republicans over how to offset that spending. everyone agrees that zika needs some resources to deal with that health and medical issue. but how to pay for it. democrats argue that the bill written by republicans takes away money from planned parenthood. so that's one of those hot-button issues that is combined in with an issue where there is broad agreement that money needs to be appropriated. that's just one thing. over the next couple weeks, tamron, you'll hear us talking much more about the end of the fiscal year, money to keep the lights on, the agencies running, the government functioning. october 1st is the fiscal year for the federal government. so not a lot of time to deal with that, and there are, again, differing views on how that should play out. the top democrat, harry reed, would like to see a long-term kind of full plan to fund the government so that a president hillary clinton, he expects she

will twwin, she can begin her presidency with clear detectick. and conservatives would move on from there. different strategies play out. over the next few weeks, we expect the hot-button issues will be a fight and in october we can see them go back on to the campaign trail where issues will be fought again in districts and states and on the presidential campaign trail, as well. tamron? >> it kelly, thank you very much. william barber joins me to discuss the race in his state, and early voting, which actually kicks off this week in north carolina. we'll be right back. ♪ one day a rider made a decision. the decision to ride on and save money. he decided to save money by switching his motorcycle insurance to geico.

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kaine and hillary clinton will be holding a rally in charlotte this thursday. reverend william barber, clinton supporter, joining us now. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you so much, tamron for having us today. >> obviously the national stage people got to know you nationally after the moral mondays. now a situation where no voter ids are required, no longer needed, and the early voting now 17 days. a huge victory for you and the effort there. after the appeals court decision in july 29th, at this point, how do you see this playing out for hillary clinton in north carolina? it's a tight race now. >> well, i'm deeply concerned as i said about the moral fabric of this nation. to be suppressing the right to vote is immoral. the fact that we won this major bat that will we will have same day registration early voting. we will not have the worst form of voter id in the country is critical. i think the regressive and

extreme people like donald trump understand how voter suppression can help to win and they're very afraid of the vote being open when this rule came down from the courts unanimously, mr. trump came into town and said it would increase fraud rather than siding with the constitution. and now the boards of election in our state directed by the republican party have been trying to put in place that would further suppress the vote that would take precincts out of african american communities, poor communities, and make the time for voting only during work hours. we're in a fight for the very soul of our democracy. about this election and beyond. >> it is. and reverend barber, when you look at right now where north carolina stands, hillary clinton 46%, donald trump 42, as i mentioned, it's not a toss-up. gary johnson, 4%, jill stein, 2% there. why you believe it's so close at this point between hillary clinton and donald trump in your state? >> well, it's about the policies and miss clinton attempted to

embrace what we call the deeper moral constitutional policies, donald trump has been focussed on division, he's been focussed on, you know, photo ops and platitudes, but miss clinton is talking about policy. that's what african american and white people and latinos are interested in. where do you stand on living wages. he said that the minimum wage was too high. where do you stand on health care? he support health care. he's talking about taking away the affordable care act taking from thousands and leaving 500,000 still working people uncovered. and 30,000 veterans. she's talking about our country being welcoming to immigrants and doing it in legal ways with, he's dividing people and speaking against them and claiming that people are not just immigrants, but they are problem people. you know, he says he wants to rebuild infrastructure, but then you want to cut taxes for the wealthiest and raise taxes on the working poor and many independent economic groups are saying that his plan would lead

us back to the george bush type recession. it's policy, policy. >> reverend, do you believe though that hillary clinton is talking enough about those policy differences? i asked this new ad that the campaign has released focuses again on donald trump's temperment. we had a progressive leader that said in the last few weeks, hillary clinton needs to present exactly that distinction and not focus so much on, you know, donald trump's temperment, what do you think? >> i think we have to be careful when we say that it's his tone, there are people who do not have his tone, but they still have the same trajectory of policy. ryan doesn't have his tone, but when you look at his policies for instance, he's against living wages, he wants to roll back the affordable care act. they do not want to reinstate the voting rights act ab neither does trump. you have to move beyond tone to actually traject policies and that's why on september 12ths with with clergy across the country, we're calling far moral

declaration. candidates, talk about where you stand on economic stainability, living wages, health care, education, criminal justice reform, and expanding and protecting voting rights, lgbtq rights, immigrant rights, and equal protection under the law. these are the things that speak to the heart of our democracy. we believe people of goodwill, that's what they're looking for in this election cycle and beyond. >> thank you so much for your time. we greatly appreciate it, thank you, sir. >> we'll be right back. hey listen, when you tell our friends about your job, maybe let's play up the digital part.

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thank you for watching this hour of msnbc live, i'm tamron hall, right now on msnbc, "andrea mitchell reports," andrea. >> and thank you, and right now on "andrea mitchell reports," takeoff with dualing campaign planes. the presidential candidates hitting the trail in the sprint to november 8th. >> you need a presidential look, you have to get the job done. if she went to mexico, she'd have a total failure. >> what'd he say today? something -- >> you don't look presidential

and -- >> do you think in general she would be the first, but how would you do that? >> i don't know, that's for you guys to pine upon. >> trail mix. top tier surrogates jumping for hillary clinton as our new battleground map shows a tightening race. >> my name is joe biden and i work, i work for hillary clinton and whatever the hell this guy's name is. >> and reaching out. we'll talk to homeland security secretary jeh johnson about his emotional appeal to muslim americans. >> yes, it is frustrating to listen to those who foemt fear, suspicion, and intolerance who don't know the mistakes of history and are in the midst of repeating them. >> good day, everyone, i'm andrea mitchell in washington and we're off, it's a 63 day sprint until election day.

today, our new nbc news battleground map has a reality check for both campaigns. this morning hillary clinton boarding her new campaign plane heading to florida today. continuing her new habit of talking to reporters. >> good morning, everybody. >> good morning. >> i'm coming back later, they convinced me i need to. >> yesterday wasn't so bad, right? >> it was great. it was great. i love having a plane. the plane makes everything so much easier. >> hillary 2.0, joining me now, kasie hunt covering clinton's speech coming up today in tampa. nbc's kristen welker outside clinton headquarters in brooklyn and jacob ras cone in virginia beach where donald trump is campaigning this afternoon and in new york, senior polical editor, mark murray. mark, you've got the battleground map, tell us the big moves in this new battleground map as we head to the finish. >> yeah, andrea, this is our new september battleground map that we ended up having and it shows overall that hillary clinton has a